


Draft and Ink

by himitsutsubasa



Category: Constantine (Comic), Constantine (TV), Hellblazer
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Comic book artists, Divorce, Food, M/M, comic books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3197291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himitsutsubasa/pseuds/himitsutsubasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Zed are comic book writers and Chas needs a place to stay. Also, there are feelings and Chas' adorable daughter</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

John isn't an idiot, despite what his roommate says. He knows his limits and everything that comes with them and he's not going to push them after that last time.

Chas is one of those things he isn't going to push because heaven knows where he would be without Chas. Well, Nommo, the building manager would know, but that man seems to know everything.

In any case, if he dreams of warm, rough hands on his skin at night, then that's his problem and no one else's. Especially when… well…

John puts down the vacuum handle and sits his ass down on the couch.

Fuck. He cares for the guy, he really does. He wants him in every way, good and bad and it’s kind of scarier than facing the monsters that go bump in the night and the dark things that haunt people’s dreams.

He’s willing to vacuum for Chas. Vacuum!

Chas has a kid though, and Dina is the most precious thing in the world to him and John…  John’s not going to get in the way of all of that.

John runs his bare foot over the rug. Eh, close enough. It’s not like Chas won’t deem it all unsanitary and vacuum anyway.

He putters around his small (Actually spacious for two, but maybe a little cramped for three after all their stuff which may as well count as three people.) apartment and settles everything in order.

It’s not going to be too bad. After all, it’s only going to be the week, while Renee pulls herself together enough to ask Chas to come home and just enough time for Chas to stop hurting so much and forget everything. It’s just enough time for his nightmares of Queenie and Slag to disappear before he throws himself back into the ocean, ready to drown.

He was best man at the wedding. It started before that. It’s been like this for as long as John can remember. Hell, back when Chas met her when Mucous Membrane released their first song.

John stops at where he’s fixing Zed’s stack of canvasses into something that doesn’t look like an art store after an earthquake.

At least five years. Maybe getting on seven? Dina’s going on six soon, so yeah, something like seven.

The doorbell rings and John makes his way across the room to open it.

Chas, oh god Chas, is smiling on the other side. “How are you, John?”

John rolls his eyes, trying but not really succeeding in tugging his friend’s bags into the room. “How are you, Chas?”

Chas shrugs, shifting the duffle on his shoulder a little bit. “Good, considering…”

John watches Chas survey the apartment. It’s messy, nothing like Aberdine’s back when John roomed with him. Come to think of it, Zed and John never did work out who would do chores when.

He can’t help but see the approving glint in his friend’s eye when Chas sees all the sketches tacked across the room. They’re practically part of the wall and covered with swirling images of a woman with wild hair and a man with no sight.

Chas steps forward to run a finger along a sketch, pausing to read the timeline scribbled on the page next to it. “How’s _Hellblazer_ selling?”

John sets the duffle he did manage to drag in down by the closet door

“Oh, yeah, everyone loves our Latina enchantress. Angelica is doing really well. She and Matt have just figured out how to save the angel, Harold, from losing his wings.”

Chas smiles. “And John Constantine?”

“Pretty well.” Now that you’re here.

God, that makes him sound like a sap.

“Oh!” John reaches into the pocket of his jeans, rummaging around a little. “I’ve got a key made up for you.”

Chas, eyes a little narrow and a small dip in his lips, takes it. “I’m not staying that long.”

“Yeah,” John backpedals. Of course, not. Never. “But, I’m not gonna keep you cooped up in here like a bloody dog now am I?”

Chas smiles a little at that and pockets the key. “I’m taking the couch?”

John shakes his head, motioning to the door down the hall, on the left. “You’re staying in my room. Zed falls asleep on the couch sometimes and it’s impossible to move her.”

Chas raises his brow and John laughs. “It’s big enough. Money’s been good ever since Marvel decided to make that Black Widow movie. DC wants more women and I give them just that.”

They work their way into John’s room and Chas whistles.

“Money is good.”

John nods and drops the second duffle on the futon mattress, on the second bed set, a twin that kind of blocks his way to his bathroom, but whatever.

“I hope you like IKEA.” The mattress and frame were new and it had taken the better part of the afternoon the day before to build it. Zed had helped a great deal, mostly telling him he was doing it wrong, but it helped a great deal.

Chas dropped his duffle on the bed and stared down at the recently laundered sheets. “Thanks, man. Where’s …?”

John stopped from where he was running a short stream of commentary on where everything was and why Chas should not eat anything with a red post-it stuck to it.

“Zed?”

Chas raised a brow. “Yeah, where’s your Zed?”

“If she hears you calling her ‘my’ Zed, she’s going to write you in and kill you off.” John waved his hand. “She’s off somewhere. I don’t really keep track.”

Chas sat on his bed and John wondered if the twin was the right idea. “In any case, I’m going to leave you to settle in. I’ll be in the pile of canvasses. Poke me if anything happens.”

John almost closed the door when Chas spoke up. “John?”

“Yeah?” John turned, hand still on the handle.

Chas smiled. “Thanks.”

John smirked. “Don’t thank me yet. You’re making dinner.”

* * *

Zed, when she finally got back from whatever she was doing, liked Chas. She said that loudly and vehemently while eating casserole and speaking to him in rapid Spanish sometimes. Not that Chas understood a word of it, but he liked the way she smiled and laughed.

“How did you meet John anyway?” she asked, helping herself to more casserole at the counter. John had gone out around seven saying he had to meet someone, and hadn’t returned yet.

“He needed a place to stay, when he first came to the U.S. and…” He looked so lost underneath his smirk. His trench coat barely fit him then, too big around his shoulders, and his dad had just kicked him stateside to live with him mum, only she was already dead and there was nothing left for him.

Zed sat down, wine glass in hand and smirk on her lips. “He looked a little like a scrappy puppy and you decided to take pity on him?”

Chas chuckled. “More like he helped me out of a bad place.”

“He’s like what? Thirty?” Zed’s eyebrows rose, before dropping.

“Yeah…” Chas paused to count the years. “God, we were kids then.”

Zed crinkled her nose. “I can’t imagine it.”

“He was a lot like he is now?”

“Lazy and easily distracted?” She chuckled, shaking her head.

Chas paused.  “Loyal and cracked at the edges.”

Zed nodded, eyes falling shut and smile blooming across her face. “I can see why now.”

“See what?”

Zed shook her head and took a sip from her glass.

“No importa, Chas. No importa.”

* * *

John wandered in at about midnight, the smell of alcohol on his coat and breath.

Zed had passed out on the couch, as usual, and only a dim light from the crack under his floor told him anyone was still up in the apartment.

“You’re still up?” he asked as he opened the door.

Chas looked up, from where he was looking at something in his wallet. “Yeah. Couldn’t sleep.”

John glanced down at the large, rough hands holding the leather wallet. He’d bought that wallet for Chas hadn’t he? Or was it another one? It was that one or another after that one time Chas had gotten mugged getting him milk or something he wanted while he was high.

“Devil’s brew is like Nyquil.” John shrugged off the coat and kicked off his shoes.

Chas shuffled a little, placing the wallet on top of a bag. “I don’t drink.”

There was an empty bottle on the counter though… “Zed finished a bottle?”

Chas shrugged. “I tried to stop her?”

“You were always better than him.” John laughed. “I sound so maudlin. Of course, you’re better than him.”

“John…” The man flopped onto his bed.

“Good night, Chas.”

Chas sighed. “Good night, John.”

* * *

On Tuesday, Zed tapped him on his shoulder. “Do you know how to color?”

“What?” Chas put down the glass he was drying.

Zed led him over to a laptop and put a pen thing in his hand. “Take this, click, and pick the color from the palette over there.”

Chas blinked. “I can do that.”

Zed sighed. “Okay. Good. John’s crashed and I need all the help I can get.”

* * *

“Well, you’re done.” Manny muttered from the other end of the line. “It looks good, John.”

John grinned. “Only the best for my adoring fans.”

“Shut up, Constantine. I want the script for the next issue on my desk by the end of the week.”

John hung up.

Zed stepped into the room, freshly showered and smiling. “How did we do?”

John stretched in his armchair. “He says we are all getting a trip to Calcutta next month.”

Zed paused, before continuing on her way to the kitchen to drink her red post-it marked orange juice. “So he liked it.”

“All expenses paid.” John called. “We can order champagne with breakfast.”

“What’s this about champagne?” Chas entered, toweling his hair.

Zed, orange juice in hand, appeared at the counter. “John’s hallucinating because he’s been awake for more than fifty hours.”

John waved his arms a little. “I’ve only been awake for thirty hours. Keep your math straight.”

“That would be the only straight part about me.” Zed disappeared into her room, brushing past Chas with a wry grin.

“Look at us, two bloody crooked lines,” John called after her. He was pretty sure he got a finger, but he didn’t bother to look.

“Yeah, yeah… Take a nap and figure out how we are going to defeat Michael Midnite.”

Chas settled down on the couch, coffee in hand. “John?”

“Yeah?”

Chas opened his mouth, before shutting it again. “Do you want some eggs?”

John opened an eye.

“That would be awesome.”

* * *

Zed bumped shoulders with him at the kitchen sink, dumping in more dishes for him to load in the dishwasher. “So is he officially part of the team now?”

John wrinkled his nose, but put the dishes in the washer anyway. “Who?”

“Chas,” she said, eyes wide.

“No. Why?” John frowned at the lasagna pan that had been soaking overnight. It still looked a little too caked on to be ready for the dishwasher.

Zed rolled her eyes. “He’s been with us for a month now.”

“A month, really?” John tried to mentally count the days, but they all blurred into one another.

Zed nodded, taking a can of peanuts off the shelf. “Yeah, and, John, he’s a good colorist.”

“Are you saying…” John closed the dishwasher and helped her grab pretzels and whatever else she used to make her delicious snack mix.

Zed glanced over towards the bedrooms, to the sound of rushing water. “It doesn’t look like he’s leaving.”

“Zed, you don’t get it. He always regrets it.” He dumped the semisweet chocolate chips in. “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.”

“You’re misquoting _Casablanca_.” She added the dried cherries, mixing them in.

John turned to her, tossing the bags into the trash. “It’s appropriate.”

Zed fussed over the mix, adding a bit of stuff from the other bags of dried fruits they kept around. “John, ask him to stay.”

“Why don’t you do it?”

Zed stopped, one hand on her hip and the other pointing a wooden spoon at him. “Because this is about the way you look at him, the way you wrote in Halford. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

“Zed.” John… he wanted to but…

She waved the spoon in his face. “Don’t. Get your house in order, John, or you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.”

John worked up a smirk. “Who’s quoting _Casablanca_ now?”

Zed smirked back. “It’s appropriate.  Now, go queue up _Game of Thrones_. I want to watch Joffrey die in a pool of blood.”

* * *

Chas sighed as they settled in to watch _Game of Thrones_. He hadn’t known they had a TV until Zed invited him to use it, moving a pile of arcane goods and sketches out of the way.

“Not as good as the books,” John muttered from where he was shoved up against Chas, popping a cherry into his mouth.

Zed groaned, munching on a pretzel. “I haven’t gotten there yet.”

Chas sighed, again. The bowl resting on his leg had lightened considerably over the past twenty minutes as the two of them tore through it.

Chas picked out a piece of mango and let the powdered sugar on it slowly dissolve on his tongue.

Zed, ensconced on the armchair, was tucked into a blanket with armholes and staring at the screen.

On screen, some people were arguing and he couldn’t really follow it. Instead, he focused on the way John felt, pressed against his side in nothing but boxers and an overly large t-shirt, maybe one of Chas’.  Blond hair tickled his ribs where John rested his head, somehow managing to sprawl over the entire couch. The pressure where John had wrangled a place for his head on Chas’ stomach felt good and he couldn’t help resting his hand on John’s head, fingers carding through the dirty blond locks.

He had… felt for John, back when he was twenty and met a fresh-faced sixteen year old on the streets of Atlanta. That had been a different time and everything about wanting to reach out and touch John was wrong.

It was still wrong, as long as his name was legally bound to Renee’s, but she hadn’t called and he’d been here a month. Dina texted him, sometimes, from her mother’s phone, always signing with “DeeDee”. God knows where she learned to text. She told him everything was alright and that she missed him, in her own broken spelling.

It was hard not to text back and tell her he loved her so much, but he couldn’t risk Renee seeing them and finding out where he was.  God. He hoped he would never have to live with her again.

Guilt clawed at him as he sat there. He should have taken Dina with him. Renee wasn’t much of a mother, now that he really looked at the big picture. He shouldn’t have left her behind. Furthermore, he should have had a game plan by now, something to get her back for good.

“Chas… Chas…”

Chas startled, almost upending the bowl and displacing John.

John had, somehow, turned, and was currently blinking up at him. “Chas. You have your thinking face on.”

Chas chuckled. “I’m more than muscle.”  

“You’re a bloody amazing colorist, yes. But, you’ve got your thinking face on and that means something important.”

Zed paused the episode. “Okay, what’s up and what can we do to help?”

Chas glanced between the two of them.

John sighed, drawing himself upright, hand on Chas’ knee for balance. “This is about Renee.”

Zed’s eyebrows dropped and her features softened as she pulled the snack bowl off his lap. “Talk to us?”

Chas inhaled.

“I’m thinking it’s time.”

John froze.

Zed stared at him, eyes widening, before smiling softly. “I think I know a few people who can help.”

“I’m going to need a job and a place to live and…” There were a million things he would need to win custody of Dina.

John cleared his throat. “I’m sure Manny would hire you, since you’ve been nothing but helpful. You can always live here.”

Chas doubted that, because Manny didn’t seem to like John very much and honestly if John asked he wasn’t sure if the man would agree and even then he wasn’t remotely qualified to be a colorist and...

Zed nodded. “I’ve been thinking about getting a place of my own.”

John turned sharply. “You didn’t tell me that.”

Zed rolled her eyes. “I’ve been thinking about it.”

Chas breathed slowly as they argued over the logistics of her moving out and how all of this would work, whether that meant they would have to get an actual office space to work or they could continue to work out of their apartments.

“Thank you.”

They turned on him, one smiling like the Virgin Mary and the other smirking like a cat with a canary.

* * *

“Daddy! Look! It’s pink!” Dina ran up to him, waving her toy unicorn.

“Yes. It is.” Chas grinned at her. Trust Zed to figure out exactly what Dina liked.

A small huff of laughter sounded from the door way. “Come on, you two.”

John couldn’t help but feel a small swell of pride as he watched Chas turn and grin at him.

“Time for dinner?”

John nodded, as Chas hefted his daughter to his hip and carried her to the door. “Yep, Zed’s coming over and I don’t know how to serve your…”

“Paella,” Dina chirped. “It’s Spanish seafood and rice.”

John gave his smile a wry twist at the girl’s brilliance. “Paella.”

The doorbell rang and a familiar voice echoed through it.

Chas set Dina down at the door way. “Why don’t you let Zed in?”

“ZED!!!!” The little girl shrieked, running down the short hall.

John grinned after her, the look softening to something sweet and kind.

Chas reached out, rubbing a finger across the scruff on John’s face.

John’s grin turned wicked, as he twisted away from the touch. “What was that for?”

Chas grinned. “Nothing.”

* * *

“John?”

“Yeah?”

“How do you feel about having dinner?”

“I thought we just did.”

“I mean a real dinner.”

“Chas…”

“I mean out. The two of us.”

“Chas… I don’t… oh…”

“Yeah… Sorry…”

“No. I mean I want to.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

John’s heart thumped in his chest.

* * *

John groaned, back arching so hard his shoulder blades pressed painfully into the wall.

“God… oh… Oh….”

Chas breathed into his neck, pressing a bruising kiss to his shoulder.  “I wanted to do this for so long.”

John gasped. The burn felt so hot and wet and good. His fingers dug into Chas’ hair and he hoped there wouldn’t be visible beard burn. They had a meeting tomorrow. “Why didn’t you?”

Chas huffed, bringing his hands to John’s waist, rucking up his shirt. “You were sixteen.”

“I was legal.” John caught his mouth, pulling him into another long, sensuous kiss.

Chas breathed into his mouth, parting only enough to mutter, “Not where it mattered.”

John laughed and reached down to unbutton their pants. Rough hands ran up and down his sides, impatient and unhelpful.

He caught his lover’s mouth again, tasting, relishing.

"Escaped from the cops with me that one time" Chas. "Feeds me soup when I'm sick" Chas. "Sweet, kind and wonderful" Chas. "All I've ever wanted in a man who stays with me" Chas.

He came back up for air, tugging their pants down far enough for Chas to get his hand around both of them. “Never leave me.”

Chas breathed against his jaw before surging forward to kiss him breathless again.

“Never.”


	2. extras

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the extras that didn't make the cut for obvious reasons  
> lots of John & Zed being major bros

Sort of floor plan

* * *

_The Term "Roommate"_

John ran his fingers through his hair. Ugh... how many puns until he could kill off the villain?

"How can I even call you that, Zed? I don't even know your real name."

Zed shrugged, popping another cherry in her mouth. "You didn't seem to care when I was paying rent, but the moment you have to introduce me to your boyfriend, you're freaking out."

John sighed, stealing her bag of fruit and popping a few into his mouth. "He's not my boyfriend. He's a good friend in need of a place to stay."

"Whatever," she said, stealing it back.

* * *

_When Zed and John moved in._

Zed tossed her bag on the floor and surveyed the room.

She grinned.

“I want a row of windows.”

John squinted at the light, eyes hidden behind sunglasses. A dull throbbing threatened his brain with implosion.

“Zed, you don’t even sleep in your room.”

She grinned wider, soaking in his misery with pure malicious pleasure.

“I like having the light anyway.”

* * *

 

_They procrastinate for Sweden_

John tossed his legal pad down.

“Let’s take a break from work.”

Zed shook her head, bent over her inks and line art. “The deadline’s next week.”

“Precisely," John said with a grin, "and I have thing from IKEA that needs building.”

Zed put down her brush.

“You’re kidding me.”

John grinned a little wider at the narrowing of her eyes and drawn brows.

“Nope. I've put the instructions in the bathroom. We have three hours before we can consult it.”

She squinted at him, lips pursed before standing.

“Challenge accepted.”

* * *

 

_Chas' sheets_

Zed looked over the package before taking the pile of fabric in her arms and walking out of the room.

John followed. "What are you doing?"

Zed smirked, tossing them into the washing machine with some soap and softener. “Trust me. He’ll like them more if we wash them first. Fresh out of IKEA smell sucks.”

John rolled his eyes.

“Why would that be important to me?”

Zed sighed. Shoving him at the finicky machine that seemed to only work when John sang old Beatles tunes at it.

“John, shut up and wash them.”

* * *

 

_They went mattress shopping_

John bounced on the California King, enjoying the spring and softness. "I like this one."

Zed looked it over and pointed at the twin section a few aisles down. “Anything bigger won’t fit in your room.”

John settled his hands behind his head, eyes closing. “How do you know that?”

Ugh, typical John.

“Remember that party you threw?”

John paused.

“No.”

Zed raised a brow.

“I was there and two mattresses will not fit.”

* * *

Manny knows everything they're doing.

John and Zed have what he will be at a tie between angel and descendant of a clairvoyant. John's got his money on angel and he doesn't want to lose his hundred quid and pizza topping rights.

* * *

 

ZED’S AWESOME SNACK MIX FOR KINGS AND COMIC BOOK WRITERS

1 cup dried cherries (Zed’s)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (John’s)

1 cup pretzels (John’s)

1 cup peanuts (Zed’s)

2 cups Chex Cereal or plain popcorn (Filler or they’ll end up picking out their halves of the mix.)

Small (about 10 oz.) bag of chips (That one time they ran out of stuff and she dumped that in.)

Various dried fruits and things. (They have a lot around the apartment. No one remembers buying any of it. Previous items include:  dried blueberries, peanut butter chips, broken chocolate and toffee bars, dried mango, etc.)

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm supposed to be studying for my bio final and that is clearly not happening because I wrote this and yeah there goes my money. Ugh. I want BioE so bad, but at times it's like... is it really worth it?
> 
> I have some more stuff, like pre-story Zed and John preparing for Chas to show up and the recipe for their snack mix.
> 
> ETA: I saw the most recent episodes with Renee Chandler and please not that this fic was written before that episode was released and her character is based off the comic book version.


End file.
